


Memories

by orphan_account



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen, I AM SORRY DON'T KILL ME, M/M, Post CoE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 20:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/828610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Ianto dies in Thames House, Jack gives himself the task of cleaning out Ianto's flat.  It's harder than he thought it would be, especially when he finds an old camera.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memories

**Author's Note:**

> I'm supposed to be studying for finals and what am I doing?  
> RIPPING MY HEART OUT

Jack never saw Ianto's flat.  He knew where it was, certainly, he'd picked up Ianto there dozens of times, but he'd never been inside.  It seemed a cruel joke that circumstances only brought him here now, after Ianto was gone.  

It was a small flat, three rooms, with a hallway and a small bathroom to the side.  The windows to the right showed the old theater, with its brick walls and old movie posters.  Jack thought maybe if he looked, he might see Ianto coming from the coffee shop across the street, a paper bag in one hand and a coffee in the other.  But he shook his head and continued to survey the flat, glancing only briefly at the kitchenette directly across from the windows.  A light green loveseat was placed next to the windows, against the wall, a coffee table in front of it.  

There was an unfinished mug of coffee on the table, and a book that had been hastily bookmarked.  Jack flipped it over to see the cover: a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets.  He bit the inside of his lip and placed it into one of the boxes he'd brought; no matter how difficult, Ianto's flat had to be cleaned up, and his possessions locked away.  

_The job you could never quit._

There were traces of Torchwood all around the apartment.  A scribbled field report here, a few photos of alien tech there.  There was a mug tree by the dishwasher.  Mugs had always been some sort of odd currency at Torchwood Three.  If you screwed up one of Tosh's computer programs, you bought her a mug.  If you pissed off Owen, you bought him a mug.  And Ianto's mug tree was laden with them.  There were even a few sitting around the base of it, as if there wasn't enough room on the tree for all of them.

Jack remembered each mug on there.  There was one with the Torchwood logo, from Owen ("I figured since you're the coffee boy, you deserved a mug"), a chalkboard one with actual chalk from Gwen ("so you can write stuff on it, I guess"), a white one with the quadratic formula from Tosh ("everyone needs the quadratic formula in their lives"), and one shaped like a stereotypical Martian's head from Jack himself ("It was the only alien one I could find.  Strangely enough, they don't carry Weevil mugs.")

They all went into the box as well.

Eventually Jack found himself in what appeared to be Ianto's guest room.  Apparently no one had stayed there in awhile, because Ianto's debris had sort of just seeped in.  A charcoal bathrobe hung on the doorknob, and a camera lay charging on the bureau.  Jack steeled himself and picked up the camera, not sure he was ready for whatever was on it.  He turned it on and hit the button to look through the pictures.

The first one he saw was a photo of the team.  It had been an off day, and they'd gone to the park, just for an hour or so, but that was the best day he could remember before Gray.

The five of them were lying in a circle, with their heads in the center and their legs stretched out like the spokes on a wheel.  They'd called a random stranger over to take a picture.  The picture showed just their heads, and they were all laughing at something Owen had said.  Jack and Ianto were next to each other, Jack's eyes squinted shut with laughter, Ianto watching him as he laughed.  Gwen was on Ianto's other side, her green eyes sparkling.  Tosh lay beside Gwen, giggling, her head inclined toward Owen, who was on her other side, and his face was turned toward Tosh as she laughed. 

Jack moved on to the next picture.  It was a candid shot of Owen and Tosh as they talked about something long since forgotten.  Perhaps unconsciously, Owen's fingers fondled the pin on his lab coat that Tosh had given him --  _trust me, I'm a doctor_ \-- and Tosh was holding the little screen cleaner Owen had gotten her.  Jack smiled.

The next picture was of Rhys and Gwen, arms around each other, grinning.  They were both covered in blue paint.

The next photo was of Jack and Ianto, probably taken by Tosh, as they sat at Jack's desk with coffees in hand.  They were smiling about something Jack couldn't remember.  

The next was the entire team, taken by Rhys, outside his and Gwen's flat -- they'd had a Christmas party last year, and everyone was dressed up in festive reds and greens.  In the photo, Tosh and Gwen were laughing hysterically, and Owen was standing between them, an unamused expression on his face and a pair of reindeer antlers perched precariously on his head.  Jack and Ianto stood off to the side, arms around shoulders, watching the spectacle with a kind of detatched amusement.

A drop of water hit the screen, and Jack startled, not realizing that he was crying.  He shut off the camera and swiped at his eyes, thankful no one was around.  With a last look around the room, he slipped the camera into his pocket and left, shoving the bathrobe into the box as well.

When he left the flat, it looked like a magazine picture.  There was no evidence that Ianto had ever lived there, and Jack hated himself for it.


End file.
